Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1526978
French Designer Laura Gonzalez Creates a Stunning New Gallery By Rebecca Sherman. Photography Inês Silva Sá. P arisian designer Laura G o n z a l e z h a s s t y l e d h e r l u m i n o u s n e w Tribeca showroom like a cosmopolitan Left Bank apartment, with her own striking furniture and lighting collections and works by favorite French artists. The gallery "serves as a beacon of French excellence," she says of the artistry and craftsmanship on display. The showroom is magnificently set in a 19th-century industrial building with brick walls, glass ceiling, and wood-plank floors, enriched by a sculptural ceramic fireplace by French artist Laurent Dufour and a small bar area that doubles as library filled with books. Flowers are the inspiration for many of her Italian Murano glass lighting creations that resemble nasturtium blooms, lily pads, and branches of Japanese blossoms. A floor lamp that doubles as a flower sculpture is made from a paper-based material evocative of papier-mâché or another favorite French material — plaster. Gonzalez's furniture is made in Italy and France and includes Medusa tables with hand-cast bronze legs and blown-glass tops. A signature Rainbow dining table features a top in multicolored raku marquetry, a Japanese technique she's reinterpreted in black for New York. Seating includes a curved sofa, upholstered armchairs, and a red-lacquer chair that draws inspiration from Punjabi wedding chairs in India and Pakistan. Gonzalez also has a furniture gallery in Paris and has put her richly layered, maximalist stamp on such Gallic interiors as the Saint-James Paris hotel and Lapérouse, the iconic 18th-century Paris restaurant. She has redone Cartier boutiques around the world, including a glowing refresh of the Cartier Mansion flagship store in New York. Currently, she's designing the Paris department store Printemps' first U.S. location, which will open on Wall Street next spring. Laura Gonzalez Gallery New York, 102 Franklin St., NYC, https://www. lauragonzalez.fr/en. Rainbow table, Mawu chairs at Laura Gonzalez Gallery, NYC.